They accuse Omnicom of violating their agreement to allow them to open new offices and for Omnicom to acquire these offices once they met certain benchmarks. He and Kirill Goncharenko, a founding partner of Mercury and a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, are seeking a declaration that they could continue to work with their clients in California and London, and pursue new opportunities without violating their noncompete clauses, which they argue are illegal in California. Nuñez, the largest minority shareholder, joined the firm 13 years ago. ![]() “They went from, for lack of a better term, a run-of-the-mill lobbying shop that still had significant power to a very, very prestigious shop that transcended lobbying in many ways.” They wanted to expand very fast, and they did,” Gatto said. “Mercury actively sought former elected officials. The firm has long been an influential lobbying force in California politics.įormer Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Los Angeles Democrat who chaired the Assembly Appropriations Committee, said Mercury’s reputation in the state Capitol was distinct from that of other public affairs firms. ![]() In California, 32 of its 34 partners, directors and other employees resigned, as well as 15 people in a London unit that was started by the California partners. Justice Department to represent a number of foreign entities, including the governments of Ethiopia and Haiti. Mercury, a bipartisan firm, has multiple offices in the United States, including in Washington, Albany, N.Y., and Austin, Texas, and has an international reach as well. Spokespeople for Omnicom Group and Mercury said they could not comment until Thursday. “All our clients are coming with us,” said Villaraigosa, the former Los Angeles mayor who also accused Omnicom of holding them “hostage” with noncompete clauses.īoxer, the former United States senator, did not respond to a request for comment. Nuñez, Villaraigosa, Boxer and the other California employees who left the company plan to set up a public affairs and consulting firm. and Westlands Water District, the utility that oversees the heart of the state’s agricultural lands in the Central Valley. The lawsuit and the resignations - from about a quarter of the company's workforce - throw into doubt the California presence of a powerhouse lobbying firm, which has raked in $1.3 million so far this year from clients such as Clorox, Lyft, the California Charter Schools Assn. “I have no choice but to stand up for not only my business, but my reputation and my dignity,” Nuñez, a former state Assembly speaker, wrote in a resignation letter to Omnicom Chief Executive John Wren on Friday. And Nuñez excoriates the company's handling of a foreign nonprofit tied to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort that exposed Mercury to liability and public denouncement. The suit also faults Omnicom for its use of restrictive covenants - in effect noncompete clauses - that are illegal under California law even if signed. Nuñez filed a lawsuit that alleges that Omnicom - Mercury's parent company - failed to live up to an agreement that would allow the California group to grow its business around the world. The departures are largely prompted by financial disputes. ![]() (Getty Images)įormer prominent Democratic elected officials Fabian Nuñez, Barbara Boxer and Antonio Villaraigosa led the mass resignations from one of the state's most powerful lobbying firms, Mercury Public Affairs. ![]() If you see something that doesn’t look right, Contact Us.From left Antonio Villaraigosa, Barbara Boxer and Fabian Nunez have left one of the state's most powerful lobbying firms, Mercury Public Affairs.
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